NATCHEZ — Instead of golf clubs, bringing fishing poles to the golf course Wednesday and Thursday would have better suited members of Beau Pré County Club.

Thanks to the rain from Tropical Depression 5, the creek next to Beau Pré rose, leaving a trail of flooded greens and fairways in its wake.

Tom Bryant, the Beau Pré golf pro, said many of the holes on the back end of the course were hit hard by floodwaters.

“Holes 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17 were flooded. Water got over the greens on holes 12 and 15 through 17. On hole 13, water got onto the fairway and came just short of the green,” Bryant said.

Bryant and several others spent the day Thursday cleaning off the holes, and said he’s trying to get some of the course open by this morning.

“We have several board members out here helping, and I applaud them. We’re doing all we can to get the front of the course open (today),” Bryant said.

“We got all the greens washed off, but there’s damage to a golf cart bridge on 14, so it’ll be a while until we open the back up. I’ll just ask people to call me at about 10:30 (this morning) to see if we’re opening the front, but we plan on it.”

This is not the first time Beau Pré has had to deal with flooding. The creek rose both in February and May 2004, but Bryant said there’s been more water to deal with this time.

“It was higher this time than both times in 2004,” he said.

Because of the flood damage, the Cathedral Fall Festival golf tournament that was scheduled for Saturday has been rescheduled. Cathedral’s tournament is not the only one subject to being rescheduled.

“We’re supposed to have our member-guest golf tournament we do every year next weekend, and we haven’t cancelled it yet. We’re taking a wait-and-see approach,” Bryant said.